A crowd of 50 to 75 beachgoers gathered around the carcass of the silver-bodied oarfish before The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration arrived to retrieve the fish. Police said the 14-foot-long fish was cut into pieces and hauled away in coolers.

Officers said they had never witnessed anything like it, but they recognized the mysterious, deep-water fish after it made national headlines earlier this week.

Rare Oarfish Discovered in California

"The only reason we knew what it was, was because we saw the news reports from Catalina," Oceanside Police Officer Jon Hoover said.